Professor stressed the links between black Americans and Africa

By Frank B. William, L.A. Times, Saturday 4 October
1997

Now his books, artwork and letters have become a collection from
which others can learn

Boniface I. Obichere, a smiling and always dapper African-born professor,
was a man who set out to prove that black Americans were simply distant
relatives lost at sea.

"He wanted to show young people, especially African Americans, about
Africa in a positive way," his wife, Armer, said of her late husband.
"Maybe he could inspire them to go over to Africa, back to the motherland
and see what it was like. He wanted to bridge the gap between the African
American and the African people."

Friday afternoon, students at Cal State Northridge began taking steps
over the bridge Obichere built.

More than 4,200 books, African artwork, research material,
photographs, letters and other items Obichere (o-ba-CHER-ry) had collected
during his more than 30 years as a professor of African studies and history
at UCLA were unveiled at a Pan-African Studies Department reception.

As about 75 friends, academic colleagues and even his 25-year-old son,
Chikere, looked on, Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson
dedicated the collection.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in teaching new matters,
but in having new eyes," Wilson said. "Through the generosity of the
Obichere family, we will be able to share his eyes and some of his voyage."

Pan-African Studies professor Joseph Holloway will oversee the
Boniface I. Obichere Library and Institute with help from a special
collections expert from the Cal State Northridge library.

Holloway said the center will continue the work of the internationally
known scholar who had vast knowledge of world history, but was particularly
well versed in the culture, politics and economics of Africa and blacks in
America.

David L. Horne, chairman of the Pan-African Studies Department, said
he and Holloway visited Obichere before the Nigerian professor died of
prostate cancer in March. At his deathbed, they promised to take care of
the material and turn it into a working resource for students.

"I've known the man since 1971, when I was a student at UCLA,"
Holloway said. "I was at his house often as a student and a friend. He was
more than just a mentor. He was like a father."

Students like Holloway and Horne, both 49, remember waiting for hours
to talk to the "African with the Oxford accent." In the office of the man
they nicknamed Obi, students of all races could find comfort from the pain
of crafting dissertations or a sympathetic ear for their personal problems.

"He felt that it was important that black Americans as well as
Africans show their intelligence and be counted at the university," Armer
Obichere said about her husband's commitment to his students. "Because of
the discrimination that had happened in the past, he wanted them to be able
to hold their own intellectually against anyone."

"Obichere was someone who built his reputation on his teaching first
and then his research," added Kendahl Ratcliffe, one of Obichere's most
recent doctoral students. "Most professors do it the other way around."

Darryl Gatlin, another former student, said Obichere knew how to bring
the best out of anyone. "He was critical but in a loving way," Gatlin said.

Obichere arrived at UCLA in 1967, when black and African studies
departments across the country had just begun to hire black or African
instructors to teach their own histories. "Once he got hired in the history
department, he became a part of this evolution of African studies as an
established discipline of higher education in this country," Horne said.
Obichere believed in linking African studies with the emerging study of
black America.

Armer Obichere was an undergraduate student at San Francisco State
when she met her future husband--he was a graduate student--in 1962. "It
was love at first sight," she recalled. "I thought he was the most
brilliant person I'd ever met. He was very well read and articulate."

As their love for each other grew, Armer found herself discovering
Africa through Boniface, while he learned about the struggles of African
Americans. "I was involved in the civil rights movement and he would come
along with me," she said. "Through us I think he saw a different dimension
of the students and what was going on."

He was studying European history at UC Berkeley when he met Malcolm X,
who was on the campus to appear on a panel. "Malcolm X is the one who
suggested that he study African history so he could teach us about Africa,"
Armer said. "My husband thought that was a good idea. So he applied to go
to Oxford University in England."

When Obichere went off to Oxford, he and Malcolm X remained friends,
writing and speaking every few weeks. At the time of Obichere's death, he
was working on a history of Malcolm X's life in America and Africa. "They
helped each other," Holloway said. "Where Dr. Obichere was able to
introduce Malcolm to some of the issues in African history, Malcolm was
able to enlighten him about the African American experience."

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